


Snippets of Lives Lived

by xkcdBlackHat



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Lords & Ladies, Angst, Fintan Pyren is the Doctor, Fobwatched Time Lord, Lots of OCs - Freeform, Multi, Oops?, Prequel, SO. MUCH. ANGST., The Author Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, Time War Angst (Doctor Who), Yes I regret everything and nothing both
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:40:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27275083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xkcdBlackHat/pseuds/xkcdBlackHat
Summary: There were 13 Doctors.Well, close enough.When the Thirteenth regenerated, she used the Chameleon Arch.How many people could they have been?
Relationships: Alysanne Pyren/OMC, Councillor Bronte & Alysanne Pyren, Councillor Bronte & Fintan Pyren, Fintan Pyren & Alysanne Pyren
Kudos: 2





	Snippets of Lives Lived

Firran does not remember when he was born. He remembers that he is male, that he is twelve years old. He remembers that he is Firran.

Firran, Destroyer of Worlds and Bringer of Darkness, does not remember the past years of his life. He does not remember the title of the Warrior.

He smiles with a boy ( _once a girl but he doesn't care because of the Thirteenth what was the Thirteenth)_ and they call each other brothers. Brai and Firran, elves, children, and brothers. Firran grins and laughs with Brai, they run and they run, and one day they see a girl.

Alys, she says, and smiles at them. She takes their hands and runs with them ( _he ran with a wolf once and a river and an old soldier_ ) and they return to their home. Firran, Brai, and Alys, siblings, elves, and survivors.

They laugh, and are happy, and they smile and run and speak, until their perfect paradise is shattered. Fallon Vacker, General, arrives and seeks them. Firran _begs_ for their lives, and gets it. In return, they become soldiers in a war ( _a never-ending war that always was and never will be_ ) that turns its soldiers insane. He forces smiles on his face, he hides Brai who shakes and weeps, and watches as Alys coats her sharp words with honey.

Firran is named, when he is supposedly 16 years old. Fallon Vacker, with a sharper smile than even Alys's names him Captain Firran Pyren, because that's what he is, a fire burning strong, and sends him off to fight. 

He leads his people with grim resignation and determination. As he kills a pair of elves, he remembers ( _"Go back to your battlefield. You haven't finished yet. Some of the universe is still standing."_ ), the first time he truly remembers more than what he knows. Firran doesn't scream, he doesn't react with more than a flinch, he shoves the memory down and continues fighting.

Firran returns, bloodstained, tired, and world-weary. Alys looks at him, and slams her barriers down. She leaves him, and he weeps that day ( _they all leave even the wolf and the river_ ) and he refuses to think about his memories. He goes out to fight, he returns Major Fintan Pyren, who fights better than all the others. Fintan throws himself, mind, body, and soul into the war. He dedicates himself to it and does not think about Brai now called Bronte, does not think about Alys now Alysanne who ran from him.

Major Fintan Pyren rises quickly through the ranks, becoming a General by the fourteenth year of the war. He is twenty eight years old, or thinks he is, and he is the best General they have, other than Fallon Vacker. He is called the Warrior ( _Doctor no more_ ) and he fights. He loses himself in the bloodshed, he lights them on fire and he laughs ( _planets burn and a man laughs and he watches and weeps_ ) and he laughs and he cries too and he doesn't understand why ( _except he does he has always understood_ ).

Fintan watches as Bronte becomes cold and hard and sharp edges, as his little brother smiles sharply and snarls with sharper words. He watches as Alysanne hides her pain, as she shifts through her masks effortlessly. He watches and stands by and does nothing at all.

He becomes Councillor, he plays with fire, and it goes right, it always does, until it doesn't. Gold fire, familiar, too familiar, jumps out and wreaths him, and Fintan Pyren remembers, for a second time ( _"I don't want to go." "We all change." "Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind."_ ) and he hides again, his very ability illegal, retreats in solitude.

He doesn't leave his solitude until a woman comes for him, asks if he wants the elves to change, and he answers yes, of course, and he joins them. Neverseen, they are called, and they will change the world. He helps ( _toppled governments and destroyed jails and parading revolutions and painful torture_ ), he lights places on fire and he joins them. But in the middle of a fire…Fintan Pyren remembers. He screams as gold fire engulfs him, as it does what it has always needed to do.

"Why?!!" He screams out, and he changes, he regenerates, and he screams, because he is horrified. He looks no different ( _Metacrisis, but this time it was his Chameleon Arc_ ), but he remembers now, two endless wars, two times he has been named Warrior.

Fintan Pyren remembers. The Doctor remembers.


End file.
